It's early days but....

I've been busying myself keeping my ear to the ground of late since this new driving test has been introduced; listening to the general reaction from the industry.

The overwhelming thrust of feedback that I have heard has been a step change in the quantity of candidates passing the new driving test.  One of the DVSA research findings (PPR828) had the figure at about 60% first time pass rate which is at least 10% higher than historical statistics involving the old format driving test.

I made mention of this point over a year ago in this blog - what is the measure of success when you change an assessment format?  Is success having more people pass, fail, or there being no discernible difference?  This very point was made by Mark Magee previously in relation to what he described as the unacceptably low pass rates for the PDI qualifying tests.

The little gem in the DVSA research however is the post-test data. That is where the industry could do so much more.  Their research found no difference in collision rates for pupils who trained and took the differing driving tests.  But they did discover that people who were on black box, telematic insurance policies were 50% more likely to have a collision regardless of which driving test they took.  

So what are we to conclude at this point?  It SEEMS that things are rolling out pretty much as the DVSA were expecting.  More people are passing with the increased emphasis in the new assessment of driving as opposed to reversing while steering.

I wonder why more pressure is not being put on telematic insurance companies to answer the fundamental concern regarding safety when people choose their policies?  Hmmmm...... why would that not be happening......